Chasing Dreams

For years, I have had this dream of opening up my own daycare center to which, once established, I would add grades until it became an elementary school. I had always thought of this dream as being something far off – something that I couldn’t do until I had accomplished other things in life – but I am beginning to wonder if the time to get the ball rolling on this thing is now.

When we first moved to our new state, I was in the first trimester and too tired even to do the dishes – let alone look for a job. I was content to stay home and rest until my online summer courses began. Once I began school, I didn’t think it would be wise for me to work through school and severe pregnancy fatigue, especially since I had been bleeding for weeks and was diagnosed with a threatened miscarriage.

By the time school ended, I was feeling (and doing) much better – so I decided to start looking for work. That search has proven futile. What seems to be happening over and over again is that I am getting offers for interviews or being told all these wonderful things about myself – and then being dropped like hot metal as soon as they find out that I am pregnant.

At first, I saw this rejection as a sign to enjoy the time that I have to rest. These last few months pre-baby are, Godwilling, the very last months in which my time is completely my own for a very long time. But, I am not good at long-term resting and we aren’t exactly “rolling in the dough.” It would be great to be able to find a job that allows me to enjoy working in a field that I am passionate about while also making a little extra money to set aside for upcoming needs and financial obligations.

It would be even greater to have a job that would allow me to do the aforementioned, while staying with my son during his first years of life.

So, I started doing some research (with all this extra time on my hands), and it turns out that I don’t need half as much as I thought I did in order to get started. We have extra space in our home and my immediate neighborhood is swarming with children. I figure I can spend these next few months prepping our home for registration and licensure, and by the time baby gets here I may be ready to open for official business. I located contact information for someone in my state who is in charge of making sure that child care providers are compliant with state laws, and I am planning to contact her first thing in the morning. And, after chatting with an educator friend who gave some great advice – I feel pretty optimistic about getting this process started.